Well it's about time eh? Indeed! We now have a live 1.12.2 server. Currently operating as an unofficial map but if all goes well it will become our new improved world! Join today without whitelist at darkcraft.mcserver.ws:26455

Quick announcement (not exactly good news)

I've been incredibly busy with working life this past many months. It's unfortunate that I was pulled back into only being able to concentrate on work almost immediately after completing the 1.8 update. Now 1.9 has been out for awhile.. and I'm pretty sure I won't be able to upgrade in the foreseeable future.

But that's besides the point. The community is still here, and one day it could return to its former levels of excitement and fun times.

I've been paying the server bill out of pocket for about a year now, since we don't really have a way for people to donate/spend money anymore. However with the way things went for my finances in the last couple of weeks, I'm short to pay it this month. So I'm writing this post to ask for help with the bill. It's roughly $55 CAD/month - 10 people giving $5 USD would cover the bill with current exchange rates.

If YOU wish to see DarkCraft stick around longer, consider sending some Paypal money's to matt-low@darqy.net (I'm locked out of payments@darkcraft.org at the moment, not sure why). Otherwise I'm not sure how much longer I'll be able to keep up with a $55/month bill - especially when I'm not sure how much people around here actually want us to exist. The bill is due by the 16th. Anything to help cover it would be greatly appreciated!

As far as the server being updated:I have no idea how long it would take to update it nor do I know what needs to be done.Does it need to be updated before people play:Not for me, IMO the new updates don't add that much to Minecraft in general, especially when it comes to DarkCraft, where its about building and etc, not combat.That might not be true for other players, so this is just my personal opinion.

Are you coming back?Its plain and simple, if you are going to come back to manage the server, then by all means continue running the server, however, if not then either the server should disband or someone else should run it.Who will manage the server?Somebody NEEDS to actively manage the server, I'm not talking about Moderating the server and keeping those nasty griefers away, but MANAGE it, Host events(PVP, PVE, Party or Building), Use the tools that you have to make life more fun for everyone.(WorldEdit has a very nice zones that would perfect for making Event/Party zones (that was back in 2013, so I dunno what you have available to you know)Who to pick?I don't know, I know @AnimeAnnemarieis a active player and great moderator, but aside from that I have no idea. I personally am probably not going to come back to Minecraft for a while, but if I do I would want to come back here and see a actively maintained server.
In conclusion, currently as the server lies right now, its dead. very little activity right now, I am only trying to be honest, If it's dead, nobody should waste money on it. Even @AnimeAnnemarie wouldn't pay a $50 subscription to play by herself on a multiplayer server.

To other lurking members, please be honest and speak up too so that Darq doesn't waste money and nobody else wastes money OR the server returns to its former glory.
Being silent doesn't help anybody, but talking and being open makes life easier for everyone.

Hey Swat, appreciate your input and your honesty. For the most part, I agree with you too. I can't run this server by myself, we need other staff. The problem is that those who used to be staff grew too old for the game, or got busier real lives. I understand that. I wouldn't know who to contact for a new moderator team. What our server needs is a boost, either we up our advertising game or we add new features we've been dropping the ball on over the years. But I, as only one person, have no idea. More people need to work to get the server to a level that is desirable for new players, then we get more new players - regulars too - and then of the best ones of those, we pick a new team. We basically have to start from the ground up, but you gotta wonder which ones of us are willing to invest that much right now. Since I don't know who to contact for that, we've been stuck for a while now.

I would hate to lose this server because it's dying out. I'd like to preserve the memories, or at least the map we played on. Maybe, if all hope is lost, we can make the current world map available for download to members. But I still hope it won't come to that.

Its time to be honest. The server is dead and has been dead for over a year. There is no sense of putting a new heart in a dead body. The staff may be really good, but unfortunately due to many poor decisions in the past, there is no longer a future. Know its worth and when to call it quits, put it out of its misery

Its time to be honest. The server is dead and has been dead for over a year. There is no sense of putting a new heart in a dead body. The staff may be really good, but unfortunately due to many poor decisions in the past, there is no longer a future. Know its worth and when to call it quits, put it out of its misery

I agree with you all and I own up to making poor choices and not always the right ones. I don't get the negative light the time we had is being cast in, but feel the way you want. I still remember that there were good decisions too and we were once a fairly large community of people enjoying themselves. I have plenty of good memories locked away. I feel the biggest reason that activity has shrunken so much over the years is that there's been no one to actively manage things.

I don't have the time or inclination to run things in the capacity I had in the past; my interests shifted away from running a Minecraft server & community. There's only two other people I knowand trust that know how to run things: Demeris and Peng - but I think they're pretty much in the same situation as me. Like Anime I don't know of anyone to contact to just run things.

That leaves us pretty stuck.

I won't be selling or giving the forum or server to anyone else at random to manage. It could easily disappear faster that way. I would gladly give it to those that I already trust who've proven themselves capable. I appreciate that people still want to see the forum to observe the past and plan to continue to host it indefinitely, as it costs very little to keep going. So basically unless Anime suddenly learns CLI-foo and how to manage Minecraft servers, or Demeris or Penguin wants to take over before mid September, the Minecraft/Technic servers will be shutting down. The worlds will definitely go up for download.

I'm not that sad, it's been a long time coming for me. I'll still treasure the good memories, and am extremely glad I embarked on this adventure - it taught me a lot.

Ok. Here's my honest input. Minecraft is dead, and so in Darkcraft. To be absolutely honest, Matt, this server has been dead for a long time. I would even say that it's been dead for the past 2-3 years. Let's be honest, we all lost motivation to keep this server alive. From moderators to owner, we either didn't have time, or simply did not want to be active. There was a time when we wouldn't see a headmod/admin for about 2-3 weeks, and certain moderators would only put in about 1 hour a week. I kept the logs, I would know.

That being said, I hold no grudge, and only wish you all the best. I still look to all of you guys as my friends. You guys were all there for me when I was at my LOWest (no pun intended ). Dude we had some great times. I would gladly keep in touch with all of my fellow moderators, headmods, and admin. Especially when I'm drunk (which is like every other 3 days). That being said, I feel like it's time for the DC community to either let the past be past, or move onto the new *hip* game whatever that may be. Uh...BF1? shit idk. I'm just saying...ya know?

By the way, add me on steam, ya noobs. I'll shoot you guys my discord, and we should chat. I love talking when I'm plastered. I'm not an alcoholic.....don't judge me.

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Hey guys, long time no see; I hope you are all doing well.
I'm pretty much in the same situation as Darqy right now (busy real life), so playing Minecraft hasn't really been front-and-center. That being said, I absolutely don't want DarkCraft to fall out of existence. So before I continue, I want to say that if we are facing a potential end, I am willing and able to take over to prevent that, but let's not give up just yet; I have actually had a lot of theories and ideas regarding minecraft as a whole; I will explain further.

To continue, I think that maybe we need some change, like a lot of it. Interestingly enough, Minecraft is still one of the most popular games out there, and there are servers with booming populations, but I've noticed that they all seem to be unique in their own way and cater to some niche that the game doesn't normally offer; minigames, story, an interesting format, etc. Back during what I want to call our Golden Age, SMP and PVP were basically all that there was; there were no elaborate servers, and when someone tried to make one, it was usually executed poorly, so we were one of the best because we offered the desired experience of SMP without a ton of common, convoluted plugins that nobody likes. Since this is what made people like DarkCraft, we kept at it, offering the same SMP experience and improved it where we could, but now we are at a point in time where the core demographic is younger than it was then, and SMP is no longer as sought-after, so new members have not been pouring in like they used to. So what should we do? I think that making us unique again is the answer.

Now, we have tried various alternative approaches (technic server, skyblock, pvp, etc.), but each of them never really panned out for one reason or another. In hindsight, I feel that one of my mistakes was trying to get us to expand too quickly; three different modes is great, but when it fractures the community it just makes each server feel empty. Vanilla SMP has always been our focus, and imo that is one of the things we might need to change; I'm not saying do away with survival entirely, but at least some variations should be considered (maybe have one, technic server?). I'm very in favor of having a main, technic server, because right now, we are compelled to update after every release, but in reality that really holds us back; the updates rarely add to the survival experience (they're almost all combat-related), and they make us look bad for being on the wrong version. Technic servers aren't really expected to update, because people don't go there to play normal minecraft, they go there to play a special kind of minecraft (it's also because Technic seems to be pretty much stuck in a form of perpetual 1.7).

I have actually been toying with and developing a model for a Technic/Minecraft experience completely different than what I've every played that incorporates some of our better ideas, but it never really went anywhere because it required manpower to develop that I cannot provide (that doesn't mean I have given up though).

Now, enough of me rambling; how do we fix this?I think we need a re-branding, some fresh starts, and some new ideas. It's no secret that this community has been around long enough to see its fair share of drama, and no matter how you feel about every incident, those times will stick with us; people will speak ill of us, newcomers will look at old threads and go "nope," and some old beefs may never really get resolved. We used to be called MonsterCraft, but after a brief period of time as Acme Craft Co. we became DarkCraft. I think that it might be time to adopt a new name and archive the forums (after we make any changes to the actual server of course). I personally love the name DarkCraft and the memories it represents, but it does carry a lot of baggage that we need to let go of. If/When a new format has been decided on, some changes may need to be made in order to make them happen, and these changes potentially may have undesired side-effects, but those can probably be minimalized, and if it turns out the best change is something simple like turning the server technic, then the side-effects may be negligible.

If it isn't obvious already, I have some ideas that I think might make for a successful server, but I'm going to hold back on voicing those until other people have voiced theirs, so nobody's voice gets drowned out So what does everyone else think? Do we need a re-branding and/or a redesign, or something else entirely?

My hope is that we can change a great deal, but that the community that I know and love will transcend any technical or symbolic changes!~

I think Pengu is right with most of this. After all these years Minecraft as a Vanilla or Conventional experience(like skyblock/PVP) is about dead. It's no ones fault as it's just the life cycle of games. Much like how skyrim players get tired of the normal game eventually and before long the crabs are wearing top hats and monocles. But as pengu said the question then is how to proceed. Do we go with a server based on some theme plugins like Last Air Bender or something(I'll go ahead and give a downvote on that one now), or go with a modpack. And if we go modpack do we go for a standard pack like Tekkit or FTB Ultimate or do we build a custom one based on one of the modpack platforms(tekkit or FTB).

On that note Pengu as you have most all my contact points I would be glad to assist you in building and testing a modpack if we go that way. I've had quite a bit experience at it.

I would also like you guys to keep an eye on Rising World game too. As I mentioned in my other post it's very much like Minecraft. I'm actually not entirely sure if it would make a good option at this exact moment. It's alot like an early beta of Minecraft at the moment with not a huge amount of craftable things or material options, and its got it's bugs especially in SMP(such as invisible bears). But it's worth keeping an eye on just the same for future options in a possible dual server.

On the re-branding idea. I'm actually in full support of this. Right now I think with as dead as it is, many people come in and see a tired old server that ran out of steam. And the usual consensus is those never come back. However, if we archive the forums, change the name, and re-brand it, Then we might be able to attract a new crowd that will see it as starting a community instead of trying to give a dead one CPR.

I for one loved PvP. It sure did have some downsides, but I had some of the best times on that server. It would be something that would definitely bring me back and I think others in full. As for multiple servers, I don't think that would be the way to go. As said before, when you create multiple servers, the community is split, and we definitely can't have that right now. If it had to come to that at least try to make a way where you can communicate in the same chat ( I'm not a programmer I don't know if that's possible). So people can at least interact with each other that way, and not feel like their just playing by their selves.

Darkcraft was special to me and many others because of the community. The game itself is nothing spectacular. No matter the version, no matter the game mode, I highly doubt the old community will come back. I know that I for one will not. I'm sure @Camk48 and @Teckenmyr will agree with me on this. I still talk to quite a few of the old mod team members, and we are constantly looking for another game to play together. The community is what is important to us, not the game. That all being said, having a good game to play is still pretty important.

Isn't the reason why Darkcraft is still here because of the community? I highly doubt @Darq kept the server alive these past few months because of the potential. This has come to the point that talking about re-branding the server is only out of the want to be the "popular" server, which in my belief, would be contradictory to why Darkcraft is even still alive to this day.

Like Demeris has said, it's about the cycle of games. Every server, no matter how popular, eventually either dies out or moves on. I think Darkcraft has come to the point where we should be wondering if we should let it die out or move on.

I want to help but am not at a financial ability. I have played on the server for a long time and I would really miss it if it goes. But you have to make the right decision and if that means shutting the server down, so be it. I would gladly give money for the server to stay alive but I would have to see an increase in players as it is quite boring to play by yourself on a multiplayer server. I also would highly suggest Rising World. It has some good potential to it and it would not be that expensive to start a server. Just saying. Good Luck in your decision making Darq.

I have actually been toying with and developing a model for a Technic/Minecraft experience completely different than what I've every played that incorporates some of our better ideas, but it never really went anywhere because it required manpower to develop that I cannot provide (that doesn't mean I have given up though).

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I have not been around as long as some but I have tried to give $ when it was needed. I agree with those that say the server is dead "as is". The only reason to keep it around "as is" is to preserve the memories of past builds and to visit from time to time.

However, I do think if Pen would like to put the time into taking it on and making it something different (re-branding it)...then I think he should. But again, Pen, man power will be required. The lack of man power is what doomed this server (that and innovation). I don't play many other servers other than this one and what I see is that currently servers are either 1) unique 2) have adventure 3) have PvP options. When I look at other popular, current games, I see that they have A) experience of finding new creatures (pokemon) B) leveling up (pokemon, Clash Clans or Royal) C) PvP combat. I think all the above are winning combinations...along with innovation. The winning formula for any endeavor is innovation.

With that said, I'd like to hear Pen's ideas (being an idea guy myself). And also quickly sketch out a creative idea that demonstrates the points given above.

The minecraft game I would like to play is one that when you first sign up you choose a character to be...a human, a wizard, an elf, or dwarf (or anything like that, those are just examples). This server would be a multi faceted experience with one being PvP and another being adventure. If you are the human you can use metal armor and swords (seems easy with current coding), if wizard then wands and cloaks (maybe something like a blood magic mod), if elf then bow and leather armor. Each character you chose levels up (maybe something like Dungeon Realms Minecraft) and can become stronger in different ways. This provides staying power when a person gets tired of a human they keep playing by simply by choosing a different character. You also have different, already designated areas, that can be /claimed where you can build and dig. THIS, or something like this, is unique, has adventure, has pvp, has new creatures, has leveling up.

But again, Pen, man power will be required. The lack of man power is what doomed this server (that and innovation).

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There was a time where we had the required manpower and innovation, but it went nowhere. At one point, we had over 15 moderators (all active) and were coming out with different minigames/gamemodes (pvp, skyblock, and all others that I fail to remember [totally inebriated at the moment]). Despite the fact that we had every opportunity and definitely had the capability, we still continued to die out. We went from about 25 active members (from what I can remember) to about 5 active members. The truth of the matter is that we don't have as good advertising as other servers do, we were unlucky, and minecraft is just dying out...Honestly, if we died out even with that great of an admin/moderator team, I highly doubt Darkcraft will ever be able to rebound.

Furthermore, I know that my posts so far have been pretty negative (and with good reason), but I don't wish for Darkcraft's doom. I loved the community, and would love for it to stick around, but not in Minecraft. I have seen the success and failures of Darkcraft's Minecraft server, and I will not stick around for it to happen again. With where I am in my U.S. military service today, I have a lot of free time (on certain days of the week) and love chatting with old friends on my off time (especially when plastered). Addressing server costs, Matt, if I see that there is indeed a future with Darkcraft, I will resume regular donations. I can regularly donate, and a decent amount (at least 1/3 of server costs whatever the game may be), but I refuse to do so unless I see that my money is being well spent.